Institutional Changes in Delivery of Agricultural Inputs and Services to Farm Households in India

This paper has examined the major institutional changes in agricultural input markets and use of inputs across the farming community of the country in the previous decade. More specifically, it discusses the three aspects of inputs: (i) trend in major agricultural inputs use, (ii) their accessibility to small farmers, and (iii) institutional changes in the delivery of input and services. The study has sourced the data from various government reports mainly from NSSO, input survey and CACP. A significant growth in inputuse has been recorded in the previous decade and a noticeable change has been observed in the shares of public and private sectors in the factor markets. Accessibility to institutional credit has been limited for marginal and small farmers; however, chemical fertilizer and pesticide use has been found highest among these farmers vis-a-vis other category of farmers. About 40 per cent of the farmers have access to information on modern technology from any source and progressive farmers have emerged as the major source. Easing procedural norms in accessing institutional credit is essential for inclusion of marginal and small farmers in the formal credit system. In addition, extension system should be rejuvenated with recent developments of information and communication technologies for better dissemination of farm information, particularly among the remotely located farm households.